Mary Wroth’s prose romance, Urania, created such a scandal when she published it in 1621 that she was labelled a “hermaphrodite” by fellow courtiers (for daring to write love poetry and romance tales as a woman), and her book was forcibly withdrawn from publication. The first modern edition (pictured here) appeared almost 400 years later, in two volumes totaling one thousand pages. Also pictured is the ms of STRANGE LABYRINTH, my recently-completed novel about Mary Wroth, that explores how she came to be such a unique and inventive author, and that follows my debut novel, Imperfect Alchemist (A&B 2020) about Mary Sidney Herbert, who was Mary Wroth’s godmother and mentor.